Mickelson was inducted with two-time major champion

Mickelson was inducted with two-time major champion Sandy Lyle of Scotland, writer Dan Jenkins, British player-turned-broadcaster Peter Alliss, and four-time LPGA major champion Hollis Stacy. That brought membership in the Hall of Fame to 141, nearly half of them since it moved to the World Golf Village in 1998.

"Arnold was a guy I really looked up to and tried to emulate and admired the way he played the game, the way he handled himself, the way he treated other professionals and everybody," Mickelson said before the ceremony. "From the first time I played the U.S. Open in 1994 at Oakmont, which was his final one, watching him treat the volunteers to an hour-and-a-half discussion and autograph session, picture session, when he didn't have to do it, he just thanked them for all of their contributions."

Jenkins, who has covered 210 majors dating to the 1951 U.S. Open, is the third writer in the Hall of Fame, but the first Mizuno Mp-63 irons who was alive to give an acceptance speech — or as Jenkins said, "I'm particularly pleased to be taken in as a vertical human."

Mickelson will be among the favorites at The Players Championship this week, and while Mickelson believes the minimum age should go from 40 to 50, he allowed himself to soak up a Hall of Fame career — still in progress — when he drove to the World Golf Hall of Fame with his wife.

He figured his best big moment would be his funeral, and he already knew what to put on his tombstone: "I knew this would happen."

He ended a wonderful tale of golf and his career with a short about the headmistress at his school, Violet Weymouth, who wrote in her final report of his studied that "Peter does have a brain, but he's rather loathe to use it. I fear for his future."

"There have been a lot of times where I've struggled, and it's been their energy that's helped pull me through," Mickelson said. "I've tried to reciprocate by launching drive after drive in their general direction."

"And if there is such a thing as heaven and if people do look down … Well, mom and dad, here we are. Look at Mizuno MP 53 Irons lot. Look where I've been. Look what I've done. Never worked very hard at it, but it's all fallen into place.

Mickelson was the last to be inducted, the biggest name of this class with his 42 wins around the world. He was elected on the PGA Tour ballot, a career that includes the Masters three times, one PGA Championship, two World Golf Championships, eight Ryder Cup teams and every Presidents Cup team since it began in 1994.

And he paid tribute to the thousands of fans he made along the way in a career that has made Mickelson a modern-day discount golf clubs Arnold Palmer for his go-for-broke style on the golf course and the way he makes every fan feel special by looking them in the eye or signing countless autographs.

In a rare moment, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem did not give a brief "State of Golf" as he has done over the years at the induction ceremony. Instead, he saluted Mickelson for projecting golf's image as well as anyone.

"I think only Arnold Palmer maybe could be classified as better at enthusing our fans and having the fans fall in love with him. The way he interacts with the fans, the way he signs for the fans, the way he catches the fans' attention, the way he gives them eye contact, the way he shakes their hands when he has the opportunity."